Pilgrim’s Progress – read it every Thursday! Ask the Family
Fishing is such an integral part of my life; it’s not just something that is ‘tagged on’ – it has become an all-consuming passion. Even fellow (non-fishing) Ministers, when they telephone me on Church business, ask me the question ‘Have you caught anything lately?’
I was recently speaking at a men’s breakfast meeting in Wales, and the publicity material had me billed as ‘A fisher of men and fish’. In fact, there are a couple of Churches where I speak regularly (by the coast), where the Ministers book me up depending on the tides!
Yes, my love for angling is well known. So you can imagine, a passion of this magnitude obviously affects those around me. None more so than my family. However, I’m really fortunate to have a wife that not only understands, but actually encourages me in my pursuits. I haven’t quite worked out yet whether she genuinely does not mind me fishing, or whether she’s just glad to get rid of me. Either way, the bottom line is she lets me go. So I don’t pursue it any further – ignorance is bliss, as they say!
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| Debby (Mrs Sedge) making bait |
My wife, Debby, takes more than a passing interest in my angling. Although, apart from the odd dabble at sea fishing with a hand line, she hasn’t been yet, she does get involved in a number of ways. I suppose the greatest blessing is the fact that she lets me go, no questions asked. But other than that she is a great bait-maker. Many a time our kitchen is turned into a boilie manufacturing unit. Deb says it’s the only time I ever go into the kitchen. But that’s not true, I often go in there to see if there is any food to eat. In the beginning I made my own boilies but I think Deb felt so sorry for me she had to intervene and help out. I must let you know I am not a modern man. I get dizzy whenever I see a bowl of washing up. So when we’re in the kitchen making boilies we’re a real partnership. Mixing, rolling and boiling – the perfect marriage in action.
Then there’s the pastes she makes. She knows exactly what she’s doing to the extent that all I need to do is put my ‘order’ in. As the words ‘Blue cheese for chub’ leave my lips, the question comes back ‘Where is the betaine?’. If I say so myself, I have really trained my wife well. Mind you, I hope she doesn’t read this otherwise next week’s PP may well be coming from a hospital bed after Mrs B has hit me with her rolling pin. After she’s rolled out the paste that is.
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Rebekah (the eldest Sedgling) aged 10
with a roach caught by Sedge |
As this article is about my family I must tell you about my kids as well. I have two daughters, which means I’m surrounded by three women at home (now you know why I go fishing three times a week). Rebekah is twelve and Miriam is seven. As far as fishing is concerned you have never come across two entirely different kids. On one family holiday when I was doing a spot of fishing, I caught a trout. Instantly, Becky cried out “Please Dad, put it back in the water, it might die.”As for Mim, she came up and said, “Let’s eat it”.
Bringing maggots home produces the expected “they stink…they’re horrible…get them away from me” reaction from Becky. Miriam? For as long as I can remember, every time I’ve had maggots, she has chosen one from the tub as a pet. She always calls it Tommy. Don’t know why, but that’s the name they all get to be called. The first time she had a pet maggot Debby asked her, “Where’s Tommy gone?”
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Miriam (the youngest Sedgling)
with a 7lb barbel caught by Sedge |
“I’ve tucked him up in bed.” Mim replies. A thorough search of Miriam’s bed did not deliver Tommy. Still, Mim went to bed that night, no problem. If that was Becky we would have had to find her alternative sleeping accommodation until the offending creature had been found and removed.
Miriam has actually been fishing with me. In fact, she’s been out all night. Sleeping in a bivvie is a real treat as far as she’s concerned. When I ask Becky if she wants to come, the replies run along the lines of, “are you serious…what about my hair…my clothes might get dirty…”
On a Saturday afternoon, if I ask the question in our house, “Who fancies a ride to the fishing tackle shop?”, Debby looks away, Becky goes deaf and Miriam gets her coat on!
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| Mim, aged 5, with her first fish |
She was with me in a tackle shop when she was about three years old. While I was looking at some rods Miriam was behind me in the shop. I heard the shop owner say to her, “Don’t mess little girl.”“It’s ok,” she replied, “I’m just looking at the swimfeeders.” And she was!
Whether my kids grow up and take up fishing in a serious way – who knows? But if they don’t, one thing is for sure. They certainly won’t grow up thinking angling is cruel. And in this day and age surely that is something to be thankful for?
Next Thursday: Read all about it…my day out with The Editors…Intrigued? Then tune in next week and find out more! The Reverend Stewart R Bloor
Sedgley International Christian Ministries
PO Box 1216, Dudley. DY3 1GW.
Telephone : 01384 – 828033
Web site : www.sicm.org
e-mail : missionscentre@sicm.org
